The Dogs of Ra
by LadetteMonologues
Summary: The Empire was defeated, and a new Galactic Republic was formed – armed with the lessons about power and injustice learned twice. Planets have their independence, and with it, disorder and economic chaos. And those with dark secrets would do well to stay out of the path of Ra.


**Dogs of Ra. **

**Chapter 1. **

The M0-zrt Carrier landed on the moon of Zahira, a matt silhouette against the iridescence of its surroundings. Mirrored rivers of mercury ran from the volcanic mountains, electrical clouds formed in the sky and everything the unnatural light touched was tinged blue. The M0-zrt was a small carrier, room enough for five or six passengers to live comfortably, with additional space for their cargo. I watched the metallic debris fly from the landing pad as the feet touched down, the engines muffled by the cement-thick glass which kept the poisonous planet at bay. Living on a Mercury wheel wasn't easy. All lights were fluorescent, everything felt static, and you had to wear oxygen equipment any time you wanted to step outside. And every time a carrier landed; I imagined myself being on it. Flying away. Finally seeing grass, the sea, a sunrise.

Two large black figures descended the ramp from their carrier, their faces masked and their cloaks hiding everything else. I straightened my spine and tucked my hands behind my back. I must show no weakness.

The two figures stepped into the antechamber, and once the doors closed oxygen and other filtered gasses were pumped in with a flash of blue steam. When the lights returned from blue to white, the carrier pilots took off their masks. There was no denying the two men were handsome, but I kept my face blank. The first was tall, his hair almost white-blonde and cut short. He was clean-shaven and stern. The second was his opposite. Dark, matted locks had been twisted and woven with bits of cloth. His chin was stubbled, and course and his eyes were a warm brown. They waited for I to admit them, with their masks tucked under their arms, their cloaks half revealing the dark suits underneath them. Their boots were cleaner than most carrier pilots, but nothing else seemed amiss. I pressed the blue button to the left of the door, which turned white and then released the door to the antechamber.

The air-press had removed toxins and provided clean air, but the smell of sulphur and burnt metal still sunk through I's skin, brought on the clothes and hair of the pilots. Before they'd landed, they'd used a familiar

'Welcome to Zahira,' I said, voice calm and pleasant. The two pilots saluted.

'Thank you,' the tall pilot said. 'I'm Captain Cire, and this is my co-pilot, Nave.'

'I believe Lady Juthra is expecting you,' before I led them to conference room B. Their boots slapped heavy against the metal grated floor, perfectly in sync, as though only I marched down the corridors. I resisted the urge to turn and check. Conference room B was the larger of the two, and my mother had always insisted that new visitors be taken there. Refreshments had already been prepared, and a silver protocol droid waited with a tray.

'Welcome to Zahira,' it said, it's voice tinny and curt. 'Can I get you anything else?'

'No,' the taller pilot said. 'Thank you.' He took a cup from the tray and handed another to his co-pilot who said nothing. Continuing to watch I. After the protocol droid left, I invited them to take a seat at the conference table, but I remained standing. 'Lady Juthra will be with you...'

A dark feeling crept up my spine suddenly, like a hundred tiny voices crying. They twisted my gut and made me forget myself for a second. The pilots looked at me, confused.

'Shortly, sorry, I don't know what came over me.'

'Are you alright?' Nave asked, his voice as rough as he looked. His face showed no signs of concern. Just boredom. I shook my head and straightened again.

Lady Juthra was taking her time, and I hoped it wasn't because she was planning on making an entrance. With rich potential clients, Juthra liked to pretend mercury was hard to come by, that its uses were plentiful and its price worth every penny. And whilst one of those characteristics were true, it wasn't the one that mattered. Our family had suffered a great loss at the fall of the Empire. Which is why they were here, on this poisoned moon, pretending to have the life they once had.

Lady Juthra's grandfather had been in the senate. When there was one. Then her husband, as part of the new republic. But then they'd had a daughter, with no interest in politics. Who'd never become a princess. Who'd just wanted to exist outside of the life she had.

And when Palpatine and his Last Order fell, that's what I'd been granted. Seven years later, I only had myself to blame.

'Have you lived on this moon long?' Captain Cire asked.

'Ten years,' I lied. It was better people didn't know. Better that they saw no weakness.

Cire nodded, taking a sip from his cup.

'Do you like it here?' Nave asks, and though they don't see it, my hands betray me. They clench into fists. I hate it here. I hate the static, and the dark, and the smell. I hate that it's just my mother, me, and a bunch of droids who don't speak to me except when ordered to, and even then they have nothing interesting to tell me. This wheel is a prison. A hell.

'Yes,' I say with what I hope is a bright smile, 'it would be a shame to leave.'

The second half is only a half-lie. If I were to leave, I would be mired by shame. Of who my family were, of what they did. What they contributed to.

There are new families, out in the galaxy, new names hidden amongst crowds who escaped with their fortunes and their lives, by simply sacrificing their names. And whilst my name isn't '_Palpatine_,' my grandfather had been a close ally of his. The people would never forgive me for that.

'Have you been to many other planets?' He pressed, but I didn't hesitate.

'Coruscant.' Another lie. All I remember is open space and Zahira. I don't think my feet, even as a baby, ever touched ground on another planet. But as the restored capital of a growing galaxy, with thousands of species and nationalities passing through the gates every day, there was no way two pilots could prove I hadn't.

'Recently?' the taller pilot asked.

'No, not recently. Not since I was brought here.'

Lady Juthra entered wearing a long, silvery gown which fell in an empire-line, with two layers of blue chiffon stitched into the seam, so that she looked like one of the mercury rivers outside. Her hair, much longer than mine, was pinned in an intricate knot of plaits and her face was painted in the fashion of the current princesses. Though she was far too old to be one herself.

'Captains,' my mother greeted them, 'Forgive my late arrival. I have the figures discussed.' She gave me a slight nod towards the door. I was dismissed. But as I turned to go, the dark feeling filled my lungs again and I held my breath. Captain Cire stood and placed his mask and his blaster on the table. I hadn't even realised he'd been carrying one under his cloak. It wasn't uncommon, these were dangerous times. But the feeling curled its fingers into my hair, and I couldn't shake the tiny voices. _Nothing quite fit. Nothing felt 'right'. _

'She can stay,' Cire said, watching me. I watched the blaster. His hands were nowhere near it, but the threat lingered in the air along with the smell of sulphur.

'Very well,' my mother looked at me with slight disgust, before returning her steady gaze on the two men in front of her. '130 barrels required, nearly 200 litres of mercury in each. That's quite a large sum.'

I thought of their small carrier, and wondered whether they could even fit that many barrels on board. It might be possible if it were just the two of them, but that didn't sit right with me. It didn't sit well with my mother either.

'Will you be paying in Republic credits or barter?' she asked. A trick question. Republic credits weren't worth the metal they were printed on out here. Not for the next three systems. Barter was the only currency we could survive on. If they didn't know that, they weren't who they claimed to be.

'Barter, obviously,' Cire replied. Nave looked less bored now. His face was leonine, and he watched my mother like he might eat her. I wondered if he had a blaster under his cloak too. I wondered which way it was pointing; suddenly aware I couldn't see his hands at all.

'And what do you have to trade?'

'Nothing,' Nave said, leaning back in his chair, his eyes on my mother. Cire's eyes on me.

'Are you the only two here?' Cire asked me.

'No,' I lied, and he smiled.

'You have this adorable tell when you're lying, do you want to know what it is?'

'You need to leave,' my mother said, pressing the button for the which summoned the security droids. But instead of the button turning from blue to white, it turned from blue to red. Inactive. 'What's going on?'

'See, this is why I said O'en should have come with you,' Nave said, never looking away from my mother. 'He'd have something witty to say.'

'Yeah but O'en nearly shot me in the leg last time.'

'You can't hold that against him forever.'

'Will somebody answer me?' my mother shouted. I'd never seen her raise her voice to anyone but me. Even whilst my father was alive. Even whilst we were out in the wider space. She was always calm. Always in control. She never showed weakness. 'What is going on here?'

Captain Cire tucked his hand under his cloak and pulled out a handheld hologram projector. Small and silver, his black-gloved hand cradled it as the machine clicked on and my mother's face was displayed. It circled, an inanimate image rather than a video. Text scrawled underneath it.

'Lady Aduh'n, wanted in connection to war crimes during the battle for the New Republic.' My mouth went dry at the price being offered by the warrant office.

'That's not her name,' I said, at the same time my mother replied,

'You're bounty hunters.'

'Sort of,' Cire replied, and a blaster ripped through Nave's cloak and into my mother's chest.

I hadn't loved my mother for a really long time. Since landing on this poisoned moon she'd beaten me, cursed me, hated me. And I'd taken it because I'd deserved it. But I'd grown to resent her very existence. I'd occasionally wished she were dead.

I didn't have time to scream. Captain Cire made to grab my arm, but I slipped from his grasp and kicked his legs out from under him, before escaping a second attempt at grabbing me with a side aerial flip. I was halfway between Nave and the door, and  
I counted a single breath before he dropped his cloak and revealed his blaster. It was bigger than Cire's, with a red streak painted down the side of it. Its barrel was pointing right at me.

'Come quietly, or don't, your choice,' he said, his lion-like eyes watching me for the slightest move, the slightest hesitation.

My mother's blood trickled, bright red against the fluorescent lights around us, towards my boots. I sunk to my knees, watching the pool grow larger, and Cire clamped my hands in shackles. I expected him to slap me for fighting him off, but instead he clamped a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Like a father might, if he were feeling proud.

The doors to the conference room slid open, and another man entered wearing his mask and black cloak. His blaster also had a red streak.

'All droids deactivated. And the ship's ready for loading,' he said, his voice muffled by the mask.

'What's your name?' Nave asked me, still sitting in his conference chair. 'And remember, we know when you're lying.'

'Eiluso.'

'El, we're not here to kill you. Just her,' Nave used his blaster to point at my mother's body. 'We are going to take as much as our hold will carry. Mercury is hardly precious, but we know people who will pay.'

'Isn't the bounty on her head enough?'

The masked man laughed. 'For Nave,' he said, 'it's never enough.'

I assumed this man was O'en.

'As I was saying,' Nave continued. 'We deactivated your communications shortly after we landed. If you've got a ship, we've restricted its ability to take off. Standard precautions. Don't try to follow us. Don't try to stop us. And you'll live.'

O'en and Cire were lifting my mother's body and dragging it from the room. The pool turned into a streak, cut in half by the conference doors opening and closing around it. I sunk to my knees. I'd never seen so much blood. I looked down at the floor, the tiles reflecting a warm pink from the blood across the floor.

'I can't fly,' I whispered. _Show no weakness. _'I couldn't chase you even if I wanted to.

'What?' Nave said. I couldn't tell if he was angry or just confused. I couldn't look at the face of my mother's killer anymore.

'I can't fly…'

'Then you're already dead,' Nave said, standing. My eyes burned but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Hate and anger burned in my chest like a dark molten substance and for a second my eyes faltered, and the lights seemed to flicker. I refused to look as he left the conference room, refused to listen to the metallic drum of his boots down the corridor. I just stared at my mother's blood and wished I'd learnt my lesson sooner.


End file.
